From his view
by GracingOctober
Summary: Movie-Verse: The Once-ler's thoughts and feelings as time passes. OC present. Mild language.


**Hey guys, I'm super sorry for not posting ANYTHING for the longest time. Been busy and I haven't been getting any plots in my head and couldn't follow the storyline with anymore ideas for my previous stories. I'll get around to them eventually.**

**So, to try and actually get a story completed, I think I'm just going to make one-shots. They seem to be easiest to make. (Don't have to make a huge storyline to explain everything – The readers use their imagination).**

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><p>He couldn't feel anything. Not one thing.<p>

He was happy in the beginning, of course. He was because he became successful. But there's always a price to pay when you become so successful so quickly, right?

His price, he realized now that he thought about it, was greater than what he got in return.

He became rich. He became famous. Hell, he even created a town named after his invention which revolutionized fashion and home needs.

But what he lost in return…that was too great. He shouldn't have lost that much.

He lost the love of his family (not that he had it anyway), he lost the semi-friendship that he had with the mystical guardian of the forest The Lorax, lost all of his previous friends, and lost the love of his life.

All because he broke one promise.

He sits there, alone, with an empty factory to his back and a broken world to his front.

How in the hell could one promise broken do this?

The power, he thinks. The power and fame went to my head.

Of all the things that he lost, only one hurt the absolute most and it was the first to go:

The girl.

She ran away, couldn't take all of the trees dying.

He remembers the fight they had. He regrets the one sentence he said to her:

"Who cares if a few trees are dying?"

She began to cry then, couldn't take the change in him.

He realized that she loved the forest, loved the animals that lived in it.

Maybe even more than me, he thinks with bitterness.

But she left long before the animals did. Long before all of his other friends did.

And much much longer before the Lorax did.

She left way too early, too early to see that he had learned a lesson in keeping promises.

She tried making suggestions as to how to harvest truffula fluffs from the trees without harming them, but he wouldn't listen.

He never did listen to her after the boom in fame.

He remembered every scornful and bitter thing he said to her about her "silly" ideas.

And now she's gone. Gone forever.

If I could say one thing to everyone I knew, he thinks with sadness in his heart, it would be "I'm sorry".

No, that wouldn't be enough! He knows it won't be enough. Who knows what they're doing with their lives now?

Have the forest creatures, once his friends, found their new home? Probably not.

Have his friends found a new guitarist for their group to laugh and joke with? Maybe. They've been great at finding people with certain talents.

Is the Lorax watching him? Probably. It's always wanted to prove itself right.

Has she…has she found someone new? He thinks with a sinking feeling in his chest. His heart drops to his stomach in panic at this thought. He starts breathing with quick and rapid breaths.

He's panicking. He knows he probably shouldn't, she wouldn't have wanted to see him this way. It's always been like that…Scratch that, SHE'S always been like that. She hated it when people were upset and she would go out of her way to help complete strangers (mostly children who happened to be isolated from a group of other children).

Of course, she had her faults.

She was a bit sarcastic most of the time. She liked to be left well enough alone some days. She liked to listen to music more than people. She hated shopping on busy days.

One of her biggest faults, he thinks, is that she cared too much.

He looks to his monument of success. It doesn't look quite so glorious anymore. It looks broken. Evil.

The sky is dark, not bright and blue anymore. He misses that.

He misses the wind, the crisp fresh air.

He misses the colors of the trees mingling with the grass in the hills.

He misses the beautiful river that ran through the forest.

All now have been destroyed and corrupted.

Nothing will be the same ever again.

He locks himself in a house. He will stay there for the rest of his life. No one will disturb them, especially because of the walls of the town nearby that he designed. They will stay happy in there, never knowing what has happened outside of their happy home.

Many years pass. Every day that passes by however, brings countless memories of his past.

And each day hurts much more than the last. Some days he even cried, never wanting what has happened to ever repeat itself in his head.

He knows he is only learning a lesson, though. That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt.

"Hello?"

He hears a voice from outside of his home. It's a young boy.

He ignores him.

The boy finally captures his attention with persistence.

He likes that in the boy.

The boy asks for a tree.

He knows a bit about trees.

But first…He must tell the boy of his fall.

He must.

But, he thinks, I will not ask of them.

His brain tells him that he doesn't want him to know what has happened of everyone.

But a small whisper of his heart asks him, "Do you know what happened to her?"

He can't control his mouth.

He asks the boy, Ted, of her.

Of course, he doesn't say her name.

The boy is confused.

He shushes the boy and goes on with the story.

Of how he had won some and lost even more.

It's everything he can do to keep his voice from wavering and breaking when he gets to the part about them leaving.

He knows it's because of her. He doesn't mention her though.

He knows she wouldn't mind. She never like being in a story anyway, especially one this sad.

Time passes. He hears a loud bang.

When he looks outside, he can see a wall down from the town.

Before he can stop his imagination from running wild, his thoughts quickly go to her, seeing her running toward him.

He knows she wouldn't do that.

Especially after all that he's done.

He sees a bulldozer, with a person standing on it, holding something tiny up.

He realizes it's the boy.

He's successful.

He can barely retain the tears from escaping his eyes.

He's so proud of him.

Some more time passes. The trees have seeded and are growing in his yard.

He will take his first step outside since the fall of his life.

He take an axe and destroys the boards covering his windows first. He hates them.

He then takes a watering can. He can't remember where he got it.

That doesn't matter now, though.

He destroys the trap located on the door. It was ingenious.

He will barely miss it, though.

He's reluctant with turning the knob to the outside.

The skies are blue now. The air is clean. This will be good for me, he thinks with hope in his heart.

What he sees first when he steps outside shocks him to his core.

He drops the watering can.

It's all he can do to stop himself from falling with it.

His knees begin to tremble.

How is it that he is still standing?

It seems impossible to do such a thing.

There was someone standing there. Obviously in their elderly years, like him.

It's a woman. She's tall and lean, with barely any laugh lines.

But she's smiling.

She looks like she's close to tears.

He brain immediately shouts at him.

IT'S HER!

His breathing is getting wavered. It's shallow.

He damn near had a heart attack right then and there.

She sees him panicking there and she just smiles a little more, a nervous smile.

He pinches himself.

He can't believe it.

She's still around.

She gingerly take a step forward. Almost cautious as to what he might do.

He walks towards her, but he doesn't raise his arms for a hug and he doesn't raise his hand in greeting.

He pauses, just a couple of feet away from her.

He can see relief in her eyes.

Could she see the overwhelming love for her in his?

He doubts it.

Maybe she sees only regret.

It doesn't matter. She takes the last couple of steps towards him and hugs him.

He forgot what it feels like to touch someone else.

He can only stand there before he can register the fact that he has put his arms around her in return.

He feels something wet against his cheek.

She's crying.

He quickly realizes that he too is crying.

It's been too long, she says.

He can barely hear her.

Her voice, though, is still as beautiful as ever.

It's not faded with time like his has.

Or maybe hers has. He just can't tell.

They stand there for what seems like forever before she pulls away.

He was right. She was crying.

But she's smiling too.

She walks past him.

Her hand, he sees, is in a fist.

She picks up the watering can.

Somehow, by the grace of whatever god is up there, it didn't spill over.

She walks back to him. Fist still clenched and watering can in the other hand.

He's a little worried.

Will she hit him for what he's done?

He knows he deserves it.

But yet, she surprises him still.

She raises her clenched hand towards him and opens it.

A seed.

He can barely hear her speak, but he knows that she wants to plant the seed with him.

They're friends again.

He can't decide where to put it.

She suggests something that he will never forget.

Take out all the stones on the inside of the stone circle that is in front of his home.

The one where the biggest stone says "Unless".

He can barely retain the tears.

Instead, he laughs nervously and says that it's a great idea.

The words leave his mouth before he can control them.

He calls her love.

She doesn't seem to notice.

Scenarios are running through his mind before he can control them.

Is she married?

A lot of time has passed since she left, and she was absolutely stunning back then.

Of course, not that she isn't now.

Her hair is still long, just like it was back then.

He knows she hated having her hair cut.

She sets to work on removing the stones. He quickly helps her.

It takes some time, the stones are old and fit very well to each other.

But the inside stone are removed, leaving only the outside stones still in a circle as they were before.

She goes to dig a small hole with her fingers, but he stops her.

He does it instead, insisting that she can plant the seed herself.

He offers, very gingerly and slowly, that they can both water it at the same time.

She thankfully doesn't seem fazed by this and quickly agrees to it, a smile on her face.

The planting and watering got done, and they stood there, looking at the spot where there was now a sprout.

It was a sight that almost brought him to tears once again.

This is a new beginning, he thought.

And before he can stop himself, his hand reaches for hers.

She entwines her fingers with his.

He couldn't be happier.

But he know he can't say he's sorry.

She probably won't believe him.

A beam of light slowly descends on the circle of stones. He can see the Lorax lifting himself down. She can't stop staring.

Finally making a landing on the largest stone, it stands there, hands on its waist.

It looks proud.

Barely a word is said from it when he removes his hand from hers (she doesn't seem too bothered by this) and he hugs the Lorax with all that he can bring.

It says something, but he can't hear it.

All he can hear is her crying.

Everything is right again.


End file.
